A prohead or procapsid is an immature viral capsid structure formed in the early stages of self-assembly of some bacteriophages, including the Caudovirales or tailed bacteriophages. Production and assembly of stable proheads is an essential precursor to bacteriophage genome packaging; this packaging activity can be replicated in vitro. The prohead structure may take a different shape from the head of a mature virion, as seen with the prohead of Bacillus subtilis phage φ29.
References
- Catalano, C. E.; Cue, D.; Feiss, M. (1995). "Virus DNA packaging: the strategy used by phage λ". Molecular Microbiology. 16 (6): 1075–1086. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.1995.tb02333.x. PMID 8577244.
- Murialdo, H.; Becker, A. (1977). "Assembly of Biologically Active Proheads of Bacteriophage Lambda in vitro". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 74 (3): 906–910. Bibcode:1977PNAS...74..906M. doi:10.1073/pnas.74.3.906. PMC 430525. PMID 265585.
- Ivanovska, I. L.; et al. (2004). "Bacteriophage capsids: Tough nanoshells with complex elastic properties". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101 (20): 7600–7605. Bibcode:2004PNAS..101.7600I. doi:10.1073/pnas.0308198101. PMC 419652. PMID 15133147.
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